The Literature Review
William Oduro
FRNR, CANR,KNUST
November, 2012
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The Literature Review
The review of the literature is defined
as a broad, comprehensive, indepth, systematic, and critical
review of scholarly publications,
unpublished scholarly print
materials, audiovisual materials, and
personal communications
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The Literature Review
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The review of the literature is traditionally
considered a systematic and critical review of
the most important published scholarly
literature on a particular topic.
Scholarly literature refer to published and
unpublished data based literature and
conceptual literature materials found in print
and non print forms
Data based literature
reports of completed
research
Conceptual research
reports of theories,
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concepts
Relationship Of Review Of Literature To
Theory, Research, Education And Practice
Research
Review of
Literature
Education
Practice
Theory
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Purposes of Literature Review
The overall purpose of literature review is to
discover knowledge
Research purposes of literature review:
1. Determines an appropriate research
design/method (instruments, data
collection and analysis methods) for
answering the research question
2. Determines the need for replication of a
well designed study or refinement of a
study
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Purposes of Literature Review
Non Research purposes of literature review:
1. Determines what is known about a subject,
concept or problem
2. Determines gaps, consistencies &
inconsistencies about a subject, concept or
problem
3. Discovers unanswered questions about a
subject, concept or problem
4. Describes strengths & weaknesses of
designs, methods of inquiry and
instruments used in earlier works
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Purposes of Literature Review
Non Research purposes of literature review:
5. Discovers conceptual traditions used to
examine problems
6. Generates useful research questions or
projects/activities for the discipline
7. Promotes development of protocols &
policies related to e.g. nursing practice
8. Uncovers a new practice intervention, or
gains support for changing a practice
intervention
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Differences of Research & Non
Research Purposes
Whether a nurse is developing a
research study, a curriculum, or a
patient protocol, s/he should base
that project on a critical review of
the literature
The difference lies in the type of
outcome produced
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The Use of Literature Review in
Quantitative Research
Theoretical framework
The literature defines concepts and terms in relation
to the study

Problem statement and hypotheses
The literature review helps to determine what is
known and not known; to uncover gaps,
consistencies, or inconsistencies, and/or to reveal
unanswered questions about a subject, concept
or problem
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The literature review allows for refinement of
research problems and questions and/or
hypotheses
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The Use of Literature Review in
Quantitative Research
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Design and method
The literature review reveals strengths and
weaknesses of designs and methods of
previous research studies
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Outcome of the analysis (findings,
implications, and recommendations)
The literature review is used to discuss the
results or findings of a study. The
discussion relates the study’s findings to
what was or was not found in the review of
literature
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The Literature Review and Consumers of Research
Literature review helps consumers
of research e.g. students to:
1. Efficiently retrieve an adequate amount of
scholarly literature using computer and
print resources
2. Critically evaluate data based and
conceptual material
3. Critically evaluate a review of the literature
(the entire compilation of conceptual and
data based literature) based on accepted
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Literature Review Synonymous
Conceptual literature
Theoretical literature
Scholarly non research
literature
Scholarly work
Soft versus hard science
literature
Review of the literature article
Concept analysis article
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Data based literature
Empirical literature
Scientific literature
Research literature
Scholarly research
literature
Research study
study
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Steps of Searching the Literature
Determine concept/issue/topic/problem
Conduct computer (and/or hand) search
Weed out irrelevant sources before printing
Organize sources from printout for retrieval
Retrieve relevant sources
Conduct preliminary reading and weed out irrelevant sources
Critically read each source (summarize & critique each source)
Synthesize critical summaries
Primary and Secondary Sources
Primary source: is written by a person(s) who
developed the theory or conducted the
research
Secondary source: is written by a person(s)
other than the individual who developed
the theory or conducted the research
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The Role of Secondary Sources
Two general reasons for using secondary
sources:
1. A primary sources is literally unavailable
2. A secondary source can provide different
ways of looking at an issue or problem
Secondary sources should not be
overused
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Pitfalls of Secondary Sources
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All of the theory’s concepts or aspects of
the study and/or definitions may not be
fully presented
If all concepts or aspects are included, the
definitions may be collapsed or
paraphrased to such a degree that it no
longer represents the theorist’s actual work
The critique (whether positive or negative)
is based on the presentation of incomplete
or interpreted data and therefore less
useful to the consumer
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Critiquing Criteria for a Review of the Literature
1. Does the literature review uncover gaps or
inconsistencies in knowledge?
2. How does the review reflect critical thinking?
3. Are all the relevant concepts and variables
included in the review?
4. Dose the summary of each reviewed study
reflect the essential components of the study
design?
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Critiquing Criteria for a Review of the Literature
5. Does the critique of each reviewed study
include strengths, weaknesses, or limitations
of the design; conflicts; and gaps or
inconsistencies in information in relation to
the area of interest?
6. Were both conceptual and data based
literature included?
7. Were primary sources mainly included?
8. Is there a written summary synthesis of the
reviewed scholarly literature?
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Critiquing Criteria for a Review of the Literature
9. Does the synthesis summary follow a logical
sequence that leads the reader to why there is the
need for the particular research or non research
project?
10. Did the organization of the reviewed studies (i.e.
chronologically, or according to concepts/variables,
or type/design of study) follow logically, enhancing
the ability of the reader to evaluate the need for
the particular research or non research project?
11. Does the literature review follow the purpose(s) of
the study or non research project?
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Thank You
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